First candidate files for mayor

Lewisburg voters might elect their first female mayor next year now that a woman has filed her petition to be named on the ballot in that race ending on the night of May 6.

"I never thought about that because there have been so many women in office," Barbara Woods said Friday about her candidacy. "We've had a woman mayor in Cornersville and Petersburg."

However, the election of Quinn Brandon in May 2007 to the Lewisburg City Council as the First Ward councilwoman marked the first time a woman had been elected to that governing body.

Mayor Bob Phillips has announced that after 12 years in office, he's decided to step down. While two men have indicated an interest in succeeding Phillips, no other petition has been filed for the post.

Councilmen Odie Whitehead Jr. and Hershell Davis have indicated they plan to run for re-election. Davis hadn't yet filed. Ronald McRady of Second Avenue has filed his petition of candidacy for the Fourth Ward seat that Councilman Phil Sanders has said he'd not seek again.

Two other Ward 4 residents had picked up petitions to be named on the printed ballot for a sat on the Council, and another man has obtained a petition to run for mayor but, like Davis, they've not filed.